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Ruff Bars & Ruff Food are FDA Certified - What Does That Mean?
FDA Certification -
What does it mean that Ruff Bars and Ruff Food are FDA Certified?
Freeze Dried vs Dehydrated
The difference between dehydrated and freeze dried? Benefits and why you use both methods for different products?
We’re going to share why we freeze dry our Ruff Food. If you’d like to understand the differences between air dried and freeze dried, you can read more in an article by Petfood Express.
Both methods allow for the end product to be nutrient dense and shelf stable.
As some of you know, we started making freeze dried meat based herb treats early in 2018. Until later in 2018, we were still making Ruff Bars by hand. When we started working with a co-packer, the bars were (and still are) made in long strips, leaving end pieces.
We experimented with using the end pieces in dehydrated food, but it wasn’t the recipe we wanted.
We feed our dogs raw and were freeze drying backpacking meals for our daughter’s dog. With the freeze drying method, we could control the outcome.
We have added larger and more freeze dryers to our space and increased the volume we could handle.
We have considered offering an air dried version of the same now that we have a steady co-packer. 2023 has been a productive year. We’ll see what 2024 is like.
What is Ruff Food?
The idea for freeze-dried backpacking meals came when our daughter was backpacking with her dog in 2018. Our family are raw feeders, and my daughter needed meals for her dog for an upcoming trip. At the time, we had a medium-sized Harvest Right Freeze Dryer.
We started with the meals we fed, formed them into pucks, and freeze dried them. While out backpacking, the freeze-dried meals were crumbled into a bowl and water added to reconstitute.
At home, we combined raw meats, blended specifically for dogs, and add our base mix, other supplements and either warm water or bone broth. We shared a few of our home freeze dried meals with some of our ambassadors, and Kairos Pantry was born. This year, we rebranded Kairos Pantry to Ruff Food since it aligns well with outdoor adventuring.
Over time, the process for how we make our freeze-dried food has changed but not the formula. Our meals are 90% protein and 10% veggies, fruit and seeds. Ruff Food protein is made up of muscle, organ, and bone, but salmon and whitefish currently exclude bone and, of course, organs. Our recipe does not include potatoes, legumes or other fillers.
We source all ingredients from the U.S. and many of the ingredients locally. Our meats are grass fed, antibiotic and hormone free. The fish we select are wild caught. We only use organic veggies, fruits and seeds. We freeze dry the meats separately and then add our base mix of veggies, fruit and seeds.
Did you know freeze dried food will continue to be raw if the product is raw going into the freeze dryer?
We started with 4 oz packaging and many customers requested larger size bags. We listened and added a 16 oz bag option. We’ve learned many customers use Ruff Food as a topper. In the future we will be moving to an 8 oz and the 4 oz size will only be available upon request. We are working on preprinted pouches made with PCR plastic and Ruff Food.
Our meals are formulated using AAFCO standards and are third-party tested to provide guaranteed analysis.